The Importance of Home Inspections

A past client of mine was in escrow on a fairly new home (just a couple of years old) and had ordered the contractor and pest inspections. When the contractor stopped by the home, he commented that the inspection should go pretty quickly and he didn't anticipate any issues since the construction was fairly new. He paused than added that there was one incident in which he inspected a brand new home (not even lived in) and found a critical mistake in the foundation which would have been life-threatening if it hadn't been fixed. This brand new home had a large second floor deck which lacked the correct framework which may have collapsed if a group of people were standing on it. Somehow this new home passed the permit inspections but luckily the mistake was found during the contractor's inspection.

Moral of the story: ALWAYS get the inspections done prior to purchasing your home...what may be one of the biggest financial investments of your life!

Furthermore, major repairs on homes can amount to thousands of dollars. Plumbing, electrical and roof problems represent significant and complex systems that are expensive to fix. It is most prudent to know what you are getting into and whether the repair costs are more than what you were willing to financially undertake.

Also, the estimated cost of repairs assessed by the inspection may be another opportunity to negotiate with the Seller.

In San Francisco, contractor and pest inspections cost about $500 per inspection, depending on the size of the home.

One of the more reputable contractor inspection companies in the city is General Contractors Inspection Service LTD (GCIS).

For a reputable structural pest inspection company in SF, I recommend Lingruen Associates.